Post Game Thread

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GophersInIowa said:
Very, very disappointed in the seniors. Hageman made some plays, but nothing special. Vereen had a chance to make a play in the 4th quarter and missed. Aaron Hill whiffed on the 4th down play that would have stopped Syracuse from scoring.

QB consistency is the biggest question mark and will continue to be so. So disappointed in this performance. If we just play average in the first half, we win.
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we were rusty.. and still not decided on a starting QB.. that burned away the first half.. Performance overall was a B-.. D played well.. no big plays.. and some of Hunts throws were once-in-a-lifetime.. getting hit while releasing at least two that just made it past the D's fingers..
 

GameDay said:
Just to get things rolling, let me say this...
1) We can't pin the loss on Wolitarsky. It was one mistake; a big one, but many others were made from different players as well. (Including the coaching staff)
2) What I thought was going to be a fantastic season ended on a very bad note. So I'm disappointed. Not the season I had in mind a month or so ago.
3) We will be absolutely fine heading into next season. It's going to be hard to forget about this one, but next year will be a very telling year. (Hopefully a successful one)

*Thoughts, questions, comments, concerns? Go.
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I don't think it is safe to assume we'll be fine next year. We still have below average quaterbacks and below average receivers. I think we'll be fine on defense, I trust Claeys. And while the offensive guys do get a year older, we are short a lot of talent on that side of the ball.
 

MZBKA said:
True you can't blame the loss on Wolitarsky, but man, the guy has been dropping passes all season. I still have no idea what the coaches see in him. Being a Freshman isn't an excuse -- if you can't catch, put on a red shirt and sit your first year.

Really disappointing to see an unprepared team take the field today.
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Get off Woli's a**. The DB crawled up his back before the ball got there and he played well all game. He was open and was missed time and again. The "drops" he had earlier in the year generally were on poorly thrown balls. With a better QB he makes those catches. He's a solid player, seems like a solid kid and you hammering away on him repeatedly is a joke.
 




hungan1 said:
I missed the first half totally, and part of the second half. What happened to Nelson? Did he get hurt, or was he ineffective and replaced by Leidner?

We have a lot of wanting with the dismal offense in general. QB play is critical going into next year, but who will be the man? We need a cerebral QB with quick release and accuracy.

Punt coverage stunk in the last Syracuse possession. That was a killer that cost us the game.
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IMHO this was Nelson's worst game. He didn't appear to have a clue. Missing wide open receivers by huge margins, fumbling handoffs, etc.
 

I don't think it is safe to assume we'll be fine next year. We still have below average quaterbacks and below average receivers. I think we'll be fine on defense, I trust Claeys. And the offensive guys do get a year older, but we are short a lot of talent there.
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With the TCU road game, 6 wins is not guaranteed.
 

Indi1006 said:
Get off Woli's a**. The DB crawled up his back before the ball got there and he played well all game. He was open and was missed time and again. The "drops" he had earlier in the year generally were on poorly thrown balls. With a better QB he makes those catches. He's a solid player, seems like a solid kid and you hammering away on him repeatedly is a joke.
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Yeah, I don't get what his problem with Wolitarsky is. He's a true freshman for crying out loud. I think he can be a very good player for us.
 

The worst loss in the kill era. The players and the coaches just plain did not show up. Probably the most uninspired team I have seen. We do not have a qb.

13 quarters without a td. No excuse for that.

The makings of a turnaround season ends with disappointment and questions.
 



Team looked flat early on and I wasn't surprised. Syracuse was happy to make a bowl game and it didn't matter where they went while the Gophers had to be disappointed after a better season than last year but ending up in the same bowl game against an arguably worse opponent. To me this game really came down to a number of missed opportunities by the Gophers and horrible officiating. The officiating really wasn't great either way but Gophers were really hurt by the bad Williams PI call to take away a TD and the Campion personal foul that as an offensive line coach is exactly what you want your offensive linemen to do and even though you still got a 1st down out of that play the 15 yards of field position ended up being crucial.
 

Tully55 said:
IMHO this was Nelson's worst game. He didn't appear to have a clue. Missing wide open receivers by huge margins, fumbling handoffs, etc.
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his hair looked great though.. A+
 

This game was a complete mess from start to finish. It was likely even worse on the sidelines than it looked on the television. Kill changing his mind and coming down from the box, QB roulette, these things show the team was bewildered about what was happening and what to do. Basically, a "we don't know what to change, but we've gotta change SOMETHING" situation. Utter embarrassment. The team is better than expected six months ago, but I'm completely unsure as to how much.
 

There were about as many very discouraging performances this season as their were encouraging ones. I thought we'd see a more creative offensive game plan for Syracuse, which we did not see. I didn't think we'd see the defense, which had been consistently solid for most of the season, miss as many tackles as it did.

I think those who believe this program has turned a corner, need to at least consider the possibility that the 4 game B1G winning streak was a mirage and what we've seen for the rest of this staff's tenure is the reality.
 



You can't blame the loss on Wolitarsky. The Gophers should have not been in that situation in the first place. You could just as easily say... Why didn't the coaches coach and tell our Punter to kick towards the sideline, or to hang the kick so they wouldn't be able to return the kick. Or why didn't the coaches tell the defensive players to watch out for the QB scramble and not be so aggressive on that TD play. Or why we couldn't get any offense at all in the first half? Why nothing was called for Jones (who is probably our best WR not named Engel.) Where was Maye? Why did we open up the Offense only after we were down 10+ points? If you want to blame anyone, I'd blame the whole coaching staff.
 


Syracuse was happy to make a bowl game and it didn't matter where they went while the Gophers had to be disappointed after a better season than last year but ending up in the same bowl game against an arguably worse opponent.
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Excuse me, but if we had played a better team like a Georgia or LSU with this offense, it would have been a blowout.
 

I remember reading weeks ago on this board that playing Syracuse was an embarrassment. I am not trying to rub it in but Minnesota fans and the team definitely overlooked the Orange. Syracuse was the better team today and if the kicker was better it would not have been close. Those that thought MN would outclass Syracuse and should have gone to a better bowl, you may need to rethink things
 

the orange were 4-4 in the ACC...
they had skill at QB... a great D line.. and LB's..
they had small, quick runners..
the play-calling was good.. they played within their ability.

i thought Hunt had a few once-in-a-lifetime passes that made the difference on those long drives.. release as he's hit and fits the ball just past the D's fingertips..

they were not 'horrible'... or a lesser opponent..
we had a B- effort.. too many penalities.. too many wasted series with Nelson.. and their D line kept Cobb in check for 3.5 quarters.

my only question is where was Jones?
 

gopherinpain said:
Excuse me, but if we had played a better team like a Georgia or LSU with this offense, it would have been a blowout.
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True but I also believe you would have also seen a much more intense and focused Gopher team looking to prove something if that were the situation.
 


next year: Perra to Jones on quick slants... all day, baby.
 


SO effing frustrating. The Gophers special teams had been stellar all year and they lose because the punt team gave up. I don't know what to say. I heard Ben Leber on the Fan this morning talk about playing in a bowl game they didn't care about and that gave me bad premonitions. Last year Tech didn't care, but they had the talent to overcome a Gopher team that gave their all. This year, at least in the first half, the Gophers didn't care and it showed.

Also, nothing against Tommy Olson or Foster Bush, but look at what happened to the offense after Christenson and Bak got hurt. The offense was putrid, got in a nice little groove, and then disappeared. Was any of it due to offensive line and the lack of cohesiveness?
 

To all of the posters on this board who are ripping the young players on this team...

you are real jerks. The Coaches play the players they play. IF you have a problem, rip the coaches...call for their heads and try to get them fired. They get paid the big bucks and they need to be the ones to tell some of you outlandish critics to go to hell and to eat dirt! So, don't go after the kids on the team. Be real men and women and go after the coaches. At least they get paid.

It has been a better season than any of you hyper-critical young college player attack artists had any kind of right to even hope for. Then, some of you got so damn big-headed that just the other day you were projecting the Gophers into the Conference Championship game next season or the season after that. You people just DON'T get how tough it is just to be competitive.

But, you big nasty boys and girls sure do like to rip on the college-aged-players.

I'm here to stand up for the kids! I'm here to tell you unpleasant people that you should go after Coach Kill and his staff IF you feel a need to try to take out your pathetic frustrations. But do NOT name players names and go after them. That is NOT good sportsmanship. Go after the multi-million dollar man who heads my Golden Gopher Football Program up if you have to try to dump on someone. But, I'll be standing in Coach Kill's corner and I'll at LEAST tell you exactly what I think of you and remind you just how BAD the years in between Coach Mason and Coach Kill were...you know...the failed brewball experiment years.

I say the kids and the coaches gave us fans a LOT MORE than we deserved this year. It was a GOOD YEAR with some good, competitive conference football being played by my Golden Gopher Football Team.

You win some....you lose some...

Becoming MORE COMPETETIVE is a very painful process. A step ahead...a step back...too many close losses and sometimes blown leads...but THAT is a sign that the program is becoming more competitive.

Some of you people will NEVER "get that..." And, so it goes...
 

dboy said:
the orange were 4-4 in the ACC...
they had skill at QB... a great D line.. and LB's..
they had small, quick runners..
the play-calling was good.. they played within their ability.

i thought Hunt had a few once-in-a-lifetime passes that made the difference on those long drives.. release as he's hit and fits the ball just past the D's fingertips..

they were not 'horrible'... or a lesser opponent..
we had a B- effort.. too many penalities.. too many wasted series with Nelson.. and their D line kept Cobb in check for 3.5 quarters.

my only question is where was Jones?
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My thoughts are: Our OL got their tails whipped pretty much all game. There were a few holes to run through but not many. Syracuse was better in the front seven than us. I also think I was wrong calling for Tommy Olson and Bush over Christiansen and Bak earlier in the year. It seemed like once those two got hurt our OL took a step back. On the pass blocking either we were completely missing assignments or Syracuse had our number all game and their DC whipped our OC. Maybe a bit of both but they had guys running free way to often tonight. Cobb is good but we need a back that can house it; please Edwards be that guy because I just feel it's unlikely that when we kick it off for the opener Jones is on our team. Our receivers are now better than our QBs. We had guys running free all night. The St. Thomas, Bethel and St. John's QBs throw the ball better than our kids. Not sure what to think about the QBs on our squad but they have to get a lot better. Is our QB coach any good; it's an honest question I think as our kids are not getting better. I just don't like Limegrover. When he hit the teams with the multiple shifting, etc. mid-season it worked for awhile but then I thought the teams we played caught up with that. He just calls an uneven game and I think our ceiling isn't as high as it should be because we have him as our OL and OC coach. Hills sucks and I'm glad to see him go. He made some big plays but he can't stop the run and he needed to make the returner stop his feet or change directions on the punt and whiffed big time. Where was Wells? I think the whole rotating in so many different defenders is stupid. It won't change and it'll still be stupid when they do it even if our team continues to improve. Play our best guys most of the game and rotate in from time-to-time but to the extent we do it is again, stupid.

We'll be better next year. I generally rate games not on whether we win or lose but on whether i enjoy watching the games. During the non-conference games we scuffled along at times and they were OK but not great. We should have passed more we needed all the practice possible. Iowa and Michigan sucked. Wisconsin and Michigan State the O sucked but I was proud of the D and special teams. Tonight was a major disappointment, will leave bad tastes in all our mouths, might cost us Ragnow and a couple of other recruits. I hope win or lose we have more watchable games next year.
 

imthewalrus said:
you are real jerks. The Coaches play the players they play. IF you have a problem, rip the coaches...call for their heads and try to get them fired. They get paid the big bucks and they need to be the ones to tell some of you outlandish critics to go to hell and to eat dirt! So, don't go after the kids on the team. Be real men and women and go after the coaches. At least they get paid.

It has been a better season than any of you hyper-critical young college player attack artists had any kind of right to even hope for. Then, some of you got so damn big-headed that just the other day you were projecting the Gophers into the Conference Championship game next season or the season after that. You people just DON'T get how tough it is just to be competitive.

But, you big nasty boys and girls sure do like to rip on the college-aged-players.
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I agree. As I've said, this game is totally on the Coaches. We were out coached.
 

It's a bowl game loss, nothing more, and most of them aren't very important. To fans I suppose, but not to the long term program. Neither team looked ready. Probably too much fun was had by all involved in the run up to the game. Our back and forth conservative/more open offensive plans are perplexing. Qb situation not good. Lack of defensive and special teams discipline most concerning to me. Still, no reason to throw all this season's accomplishments into the dumpster.
 

We weren't prepared to win.

What else is there to say? We went through the motions for almost 3 quarters.
 

This was the most disappointing game of the year outside of the Iowa game. We played terrible and still almost won. Syracuse is not good. 6 straight bowl losses. Leidner was about the only bright spot, but I don't think he's the answer long-term. Either Nelson gets it together or one of the younger guys is the QB next year.
 

Studwell55 said:
We weren't prepared to win.

What else is there to say? We went through the motions for almost 3 quarters.
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Exactly. Really wonder why the coaches couldn't get the players prepared. They failed somehow. Next year it is.
 

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